Curiousity Killed the Goat
by Selterboy
Summary: This story is very soon to be retconned and completely rewritten. It would be better if you waited just a bit until the first chapter of Curiosity Killed the Goat EX comes out.
1. Curiousity

**I don't own One Stormy Night's characters, story, or locations in any way, shape, or form. Please don't sue me.**

 **Chapter One**

 **Curiosity**

"What if all the roles were reversed?"

I sit up from the ground, looking at Ryon. "What do you mean? We eat wolves?"

"What if we did?"

I laughed at the question. "Goats aren't built for eating meat. And if we tried, the herd could find out… it could make the others think that we'll start eating goats…"

"We would just have to keep it a secret!"

I got a bit scared about that sentence. "Ryon…"

We both went silent for a few minutes before beginning the walk back to the clearing.

Me and Ryon didn't talk on the way back. With the silence I had time to ponder the question, the question I too have asked myself. _We_ _could eat meat if we wanted to. Though the herd would send us away..._

The next morning me and Ryon went back to our usual bush, deep in the forest so no other goat could find it, hidden behind poison berry bushes.

"Ryon, I couldn't sleep last night." I said angrily.

"Because of my question?" Ryon giggles.

"I've thought about things like that, never considered it as something I'd do… before."

"Before?" Ryon said, sounding shocked by my statement.

"I thought you considered it too, isn't that why you tried to plant the seed?"

"Plant the seed? I only spoke my thoughts!"

"Ryon _relax_ , I'll only eat maybe… one or two mice?"

"Henri..."

I heard a rustle in some nearby bushes, I _was_ joking before about it… but…

"I think there's one now!" I jump into the rustling bush.

"Henri! This… stop! You better be…" Ryon stopped for a few moments. "I'll get the elder!"

I had only planned to jump in a berry bush and rub some juice on my face to pretend like I ate a mouse. But when I saw a mouse trapped by the tail under my hoof, thoughts of how my blood tasted when I trip and bite my tongue... made me think of the question, we can My breathing grows heavy as I lower my head toward the trapped mouse, opening my mouth and preparing.

I ate that mouse. I tasted the blood of another today, and when I was done I stared at it, the gore littering the ground around the corpse. The blood in and on my mouth and hooves, dripping off my chin. I want to say I hated eating that mouse, but I... I liked it. It tasted quite similar to my own blood, to... goat blood. _"No."_ I say to myself, _"Don't you dare **think** about eating goats."_ I push the thought out of my mind.

Quickly rubbing away the blood I got on myself, licking the blood off my lips to savor the taste once more, I jump back out of the bush. "The mouse got away." I said, patting Ryon (who was now laying down) on the back. He looked up at me, sighed, and stood up.

"D-don't do that Henri!"

"Why are _you_ so scared? You're the first to mention eating meat!"

Ryon didn't answer.

We continued walking down the path to our secret bush. Just before we got there, Ryon asks "You ate whatever made the noise in the bush, didn't you?"

"I was only kidding Ryon."

"If you did, I won't go down with you when the herd finds out about it."

"We will just have to keep it a secret."

Ryon angrily sighed.


	2. New Issues

**I'VE MERGED CHAPTERS 2 AND 3**

 **Chapter Two**

 **New Issues**

That night as I layed on the rocky surface of a cliff, watching the moon rise from the horizon, I was interrupted from thinking about eating that mouse earlier today.

"Henri, I know you ate a mouse."

I sat up and turn around, Ryon is behind me. "I was just joking around with you!"

"No." Ryon walked toward me, stopping within arm's length. "I heard _squeaking_ , Henri."

I never even realized the sound I was making. "Ryon... I..."

"You can't do that Henri. The others could find out."

"We'll have to keep it a secret..."

Ryon sighed and looks off into the distance. We stay silent for a long time.

"I won't do it again." I saidshowing Ryon an assuring smile.

"I hope not... I won't tell anyone about today... goodnight." Ryon layed down beside me.

"Sweet dreams." I patted him on the head.

 _ **My dreams were filled with me eating mice. That's about as "sweet" as they could be.**_

I woke up earlier than normal the next morning, the moon just about an hour from setting over the snow-capped mountain in the distance. I decided to get breakfast early, before any other goat wakes up. As I walked through the forest I thought about eating a mouse, my mouth started watering as I remembered the taste, it was sweet and I enjoyed it, but Ryon... I briefly consider biting my tongue to get the taste again, I didn't. At least for now. I kept walking through the forest, listening for rustling in the bushes, I only got up instead of going back to sleep so I could eat another mouse. I'd hate to have wasted the time. I kept walking, eventually getting past where I ate the mouse yesterday, and past the secret bush.

After a while, I considered biting my tongue once again. The moon will set soon, if Ryon catches me... I promised to not eat another mouse. I decided against biting my tongue once more and I continued down the trail. My thoughts were conflicting between the taste of that mouse and what would happen if Ryon caught me. I sat on the side of the trail and weighed my two thoughts against each other, the taste versus the consequence.

 _I could eat a mouse again, maybe just one more and never again. Ryon would probably never find out unless I told him. But if he did find out, he might tell the elder about it, I would get kicked out of the herd... but then I would be able to eat mice whenever I want. And maybe I could try... goat.._.

I realized what my thoughts want me to do and I snap out of my trance, noticing my mouth has been watering the whole time. O _ne mouse and I'm addicted to the taste…_

I stood up and begin walking back to the clearing, the sun has been in the sky for about fifteen minutes now, the goats will begin the breakfast walk soon.

As I reached the clearing, I notice Ryon was about to leave for the trail.

He waved to me. "Henri, come here!" He didn't sound too pleased, and he's tried to hide it.

I walked beside Ryon, my legs were getting tired from all the walking of this morning, yet he lead me back into the trail.

"Why were you up so early? Getting another... m-"

"Bite your tongue, were too close to the others."

He waited until we were a safe distance from the herd before continuing. "I told you last night, you can't go eating those. If you're caught..." He stopped me and looks me dead in the eye. "It's gonna be me lumped in when you're thrown from the herd."

"I never ate one this morning. I just walked through the trail for a bit."

"But you were looking for mice. You're already addicted to it. If my life's gonna be ruined from someone eating mice, it should at least be me."

"So you wanna eat a mouse then?"

Ryon shook his head. "No, no, no. I'm sticking with berries and grass and the like, but if you're gonna get me kicked from the herd, I might as well eat one."

"So let's do that now, before we forget. I wasn't able to find one up to and a little past our bush but maybe if we went a little farther-"

"Stop Henri, I'm not going to really eat one. There would have to be no plant life anywhere for me to even think about it. And to consider it? No… Wait."

Ryon stopped in his tracks and grabs my shoulder. "How far past our bush did you go?"

"Just a bit farther, where the trail stops."

His pupils shrank and I realized what I did.

"Your scent, you could be tracked. You may have been tracked. You probably were tracked."

"There's no wolves around here for a long way. The only packs anywhere close are the two over that mountain, I hope. But nobody's talking about a wolf-or anything over here."

"And our problem is worse, what about those other creatures talking among themselves? They would definitely know about your eating of a mouse."

"We'll have to eat them too." I don't realize what I said until a few moments of Ryon just staring at me. Once I notice, I shake my head. "S-sorry."

"Henri! You're making our troubles worse."

Ryon sighed and sat down.

"Don't mention anything about this, not to me. I don't want to hear it, I barely want to even be associated with you anymore."

I patted him on the back. "You don't have to be my friend anymore, you won't take the fall for what I've done. I'm going back to the clearing." I walked off.

The first thing I did when I reached the clearing is look for Meg, she was a good friend I could trust.

I found her on the cliff I sleep on every night.

"Hey, Meg…"

She jumped up and turned around. "H-hey Henri!"

"Sorry about that." I sat beside her. "I gotta tell you something important.

"You know I'm one to keep secrets, from and for anyone. What's going on?"

"I are a mouse yesterday, now me and Ryon aren't doing well, I'm scared of being kicked from the herd."

She gave a laugh. "Pfft, that is ridiculous Henri. It's so ridiculous you couldn't have made it up… Why?"

"I was curious."

"Curiosity killed the goat, or just got him kicked from his herd."

"Some critters probably know about it, and they'll be talking about it."

"I'd say you're in a tough spot. Have you asked a wolf about it?"

"No, I actually haven't asked a wolf yet. Thanks for recommending it."

"I might know one."

"What?"

She laughed. "I'm kidding Henri."

I laughed as well. "Well, that would've been the connection I needed."

After our laughter died down, Meg stopped joking and asked another question. "Did you like the taste of that mouse?"

I paused to think. "Part of me was looking at the face, thinking about it's family. But another part was focused on the taste, the… delicious taste."

"You're still sane at least. As long as you think about the face and it's family."

"It's not my sanity I'm worried about, it's the herd's-and by extent-the Elder's response that I'm worried about. And weather or not Ryon will be in trouble with me."

"I can be in trouble instead of Ryon."

"Why would you want to?"

"Take me to eat a mouse tonight."

I stare at her for a moment. "Really?"

"I'll be on the edge of the clearing. I'll get some rest until then." She walked away.

I just sat there, surprised at what Meg asked of me.


	3. Goats in Sheep's Clothing

**Sorry I've taken so long to write this chapter, I'll be actually finishing this story. I finally know exactly where I'm going and I'm gonna be able to write lots over this summer.**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Goats in Sheep's Clothing**

Sure enough, Meg was waiting for me at the edge of the clearing. We made no haste to leave as fast as we could. We walked through the forest for a while, not talking until we were surely out of earshot of any goats.

Meg spoke first. "So what will happen when the elders find out?"

I had no pause in my answer. "I'll be removed from the herd, exiled to wherever I'd go. Probably eaten by wolves almost immediately."

"Where do you think you'll go?" She asked.

"I haven't thought much about that, but..." I stopped to ponder on the question. What will I do when I'm exiled? The 'will' part of the thought was no accident. I knew I was going to be caught, but the question is when? "I guess I should make a plan for when that happens."

We kept walking for a while, listening in on the bushes and trees around the trail. The trail was a long one. We eventually passed by Ryon's and mine secret bush.

I pointed at the bush. "There's some really nice bushes in there. Don't touch the outer bushes though."

Meg and I entered the small berry paradise Ryon and I found. He had a while to eat some berries before exiting and going on our way. We kept walking down the trail until Meg noticed some sounds; light rustling and squeaking, mouse squeaking. Without a second thought, I pounced into the shrubbery and landed on a single mouse. I pick it up and carry it in my mouth to Meg. She took the mouse from me and obliged in sitting down. She placed her hooves on either side of its head, and snapped its neck with a relatively silent crack.

"That seems like a quicker and less painful way to end their lives. But should I be worried about how skilled you are at it?"

"Don't worry about it. Go find yourself a mouse, unless you want to share one.

She nodded at me to keep going until I find another one. I did find a second mouse, though when I pounced into the shrubbery that time, there were two mice. They hopped away with a fearful squeak when I landed in the bushes. I called out to Meg for help in capturing the two mice, "Meg, two are running away!" I immediately heard hooves hit the ground as Meg hurried over to help. I was chasing the two mice when she reached my side. The mice diverged into different directions.

"I'll get the one on the left!" Meg said. She ran off before I could reply.

I managed to reach and catch my target mouse. When I got back onto the trail, Meg followed a few seconds after. She set the mouse on the ground and placed a hoof on its neck to pin it down. I did the same.

"You're a quick killer, Meg. Should I worry about that?" I said.

She smiled at me. "I've had practice before." I just stared at her for a while, shocked at what she said. She blushed and said "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" She sat down in front of the recently captured mouse and snapped its neck as she did with the previous one. I followed along with how she did it and the mouse I held had its neck snapped too.

"You did good. It won't be in as much pain when you do it well." Meg turned around to where the first mouse once was, she saw nothing though. "The mouse is gone." She said.

"What?" I said. "You snapped its neck, it couldn't have run off."

We heard a new voice from the sidelines call out to us. "You two are goats in sheep's clothing." We both looked around frantically to see where the voice came from. It sounded feminine but gravelly.

"Who is that?" I said.

"Who are you?" The voice replied.

I looked at Meg and she looked back at me. "I'm Henri. This is Meg."

"My name is Ajairu. I'm sorry for taking that mouse, but I smelled something nice over this way. It's rare to smell things so nice in this area."

Meg spoke next. "What are you? Are you a goat?" She said.

"No. I'm not a goat." The voice told us. We heard rustling from the shrubbery. We were greeted by a wolf. Tall and proud looking, she approached us calmly.

The two of us, Meg and I, were frozen in fear, we couldn't say anything.

The wolf stood before us and looked upward into the distance. "I'm confused and concerned about what I've seen today. Two goats captured three mice and snapped their necks, and I'm sure you were planning on doing something very odd with those mice." She sat down. "I'm not going to eat you, don't worry. I'm more interested in asking you all about those mice and why you killed them. Tell me, why did you kill those three mice? More importantly: when was your first time? You're obviously experienced."

My speech was littered with quivering, fearful pauses and sounds. "W-w-when I w-was walk-i-ing thr-throu..." I wasn't able to push out a full sentence.

Ajairu placed a paw on my shoulder. "Why don't you two sit down? Take a deep breath, Henri."

I stared directly into her eyes and she stared into mine. Her eyes were full of awe and worry, they had a gentle nature that calmed me down enough to be able to speak. "When I was walking through this forest one day, I ate a mouse, I've eaten one every day since." My voice was still ridden with fear.

"That's an…" she looked sidelong at Meg. "…odd story. Also, your friend is gone."

I looked to where Meg was standing to see she was, in fact, gone. Probably long gone by now. She'd be back to the clearing, telling the elders that we were sought out by a wolf. I looked back to Ajairu, she was sniffing around in the air.

"She went off that way." She pointed in the direction of the clearing. "I hope it's to a safe spot. There's a wolf out and about in this area you know!"

"No, I didn't know until now." I said. "I-" I fumbled my speech again. "I should get going and catch up with her." I tried to walk away but Ajairu set one of her long arms (relative to goat arms) in front of me to stop me.

"Wait for a second." She said while moving to a sitting position. "You haven't eaten your mouse yet." She bent her neck to a dead mouse and brought it to me in her mouth. "There you go." When she dropped the mouse, I saw all of her sharp teeth. There were too many to count.

I ate the mouse I'm front of me as fast as I could, faster than I could taste, and I ran off after Meg.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Meg was waiting for me at the edge of the clearing. She made a beeline directly toward me when she noticed me. "Henri! You're alright!" She pulled me into a hug.

I wrapped my arms around her, too. "Yes. I'm alright."

A third voice emerged from behind Meg, Ryon's voice. "Henri..." He said, a disappointed-yet-worrying tone set in his voice. "...You've roped Meg into this now too? What's so good about mice exactly?"

I pulled out of our hug and looked into Ryon's annoyed glare. "She asked to go along." I said.

"Meg, really?" Ryon's annoyed glare shifted to Meg.

She turned around to face Ryon. "I didn't get the chance to eat one anyway."

"You went out thinking you were going to eat a mouse, Meg. The both of you did. I... I should..." He had a hard time getting the last bit out. "I should tell the elders about this!"

I feel ashamed to admit that I got lost in the moment of arguments. "You know what?" I said. "Tell the elders."

"You know what?" Ryon said, shifting his glare once again to me. "I don't understand any of this. Seriously, what's so good about these mice that the threat of being caught can't deter you?"

I sifted through any reasoning I could that wouldn't make me seem like I was crazy. _I like the taste. You like the taste, Henri. You're right, I like the taste. There's no way I can deny I like the taste and be truthful._ I tried to go back and forth with an argument with myself to get a reason, but we both just agreed with each other. _But, should I tell Ryon that? Don't bother, he most likely already knows that. You're right._.. They kept going. Before I realized it, a long few seconds had passed.

"Henri, maybe you should leave the herd. I can say you tripped and fell into a river, along with Meg when she tried to save you. You can come back in a while, maybe free of this mouse eating thing."

"A voluntary exile." I said.

"A voluntary exile." Ryon repeated. "But don't die out there."

"Let's all get sleep for the night. We can have our parting meal tomorrow."

We all slept together on the cliff that night. We slept surprisingly well.

 **Well, it took me long enough. I seriously am really sorry about that. But I know EXACTLY what I'm doing now. The ending is set in motion now.**

 **No joke, I was listening to the One Stormy Night full soundtrack while finishing this up.**


	4. A Voluntary Exile

**Really sorry for 1: Taking so long to finish this, and 2: The inconsistent tenses in chapter one. English is most definitely my first language. Also, I HATE THE WRITING OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS IT'S SO CLUNKY!**

 **Chapter Four**

 **A Voluntary Exile**

We woke up early to have our final goodbyes in the bush paradise like we planned before setting our plan into action. Ryon would tell the herd that Meg and I fell into a river and were lost, while Meg and I were actually leaving the herd for an undetermined amount of time.

"Have a nice rest of your life, Ryon." I had one of my arms wrapped behind his head.

"Well you have fun with your mouse eating, then." He replied. "But, still nobody but us knows about that. You don't have to go quite yet. You should stay for a few more days."

I shook my head at him. "Every day that I go along with eating mice is a day I risk getting caught. " I said.

"Do you at least have a plan for what you're going to do now?" He asked.

"Yes, I have a plan." I said. Maybe Meg wouldn't accept the idea, but there would be nowhere else for us to go.

"Where are you going to go?" Ryon asked.

"Yeah, Henri, where are we going?" Meg asked from my left.

I simply said "Ajairu."

"No, Henri! We can't!" Meg said-no shouted-without hesitation.

That's what I thought she'd say.

"What's wrong with Ajairu?" Ryon asked us.

I made eye contact with Meg. She nodded, and I nodded. "We met a wolf yesterday." I told Ryon.

"Dammit, Henri. I knew you'd cause this." Ryon said, his voice returning to his disappointed tone, underlayed by an aggressive and frustrated-while-fearful tone. "I have to tell the elders about this."

"How are you going to tell them?" Meg asked. "What'll you say?"

"I'll come up with something." He replied. "Tell me, what was Ajairu like? She didn't try to kill you?"

"No, she didn't." I said. "She was more focused on why we were capturing and killing mice. She'd have questions for us, I'm sure."

"I'll tell the elders that. Make sure they don't think there's a herd here." He said.

"Are you sure they'll care?" I asked.

"Don't worry about what I'll do. Just make sure Ajairu doesn't think there's a herd here." He told me sternly.

I set a hoof on his shoulder, "I will, don't worry."

"We should part ways now, before it's too late. I'm sorry for not being there, Henri." Ryon said.

"I'm sorry for that, but I wasn't going to risk my reputation." He said.

Ryon and I pulled in for a long, final hug. Once it was over, I looked at Meg to see she once again, was completely out of sight.

"Meg? Where did you go?" I called out.

Meg called back to me. "I'm just outside. I'm looking around to see where we can get out of the forest quickly.

I turned back to Ryon. "This is probably the last time we talk. Goo-"

He cut in before I could finish. "Come back here in a week. I'll tell you what's happening then."

"Oh. Okay. I will. See you then, bud." I left shortly after that last sentence.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Meg and I found our way out of the forest, doing our best to follow the scent we had picked up of Ajairu. We found a tall hill to climb up and look around at our new, unfamiliar surroundings. The field we were now in had lost of high and low rolling hills. In one of these hills, there was a very shallow cave, more of a den. Ajairu's scent was stronger in that direction, so we went to the den. We finally reached the den and noted two new scents, very weak scents, one we recognized as quite goat-like, and another we had no knowledge of. Ajairu's scent here was overpowering the other two a little.

"That one smell is so much like a goat. I wonder if she ate one here." Meg wondered out loud.

"I don't think so, there's many trails of the goat going in all different directions. If anything, she might have made the goat and the other scent run away from the den." I said, though I wasn't really sure. I was just trying to make her not be nervous.

"Right. We should wait for her in here, then." She went in before I could say anything.

0-0-0-0-0

And so we waited in the den for Ajairu. We didn't even know if she was coming, but she did come back.

She looked at us surprised when she found us in the den. "Oh, hey you two. Where did you come from?"

"We faked our death and left the herd to find you." Meg said.

"I don't know how to respond to that." Ajairu said. "I'm guessing you were in danger of being caught."

"No, we weren't in huge danger of being caught." I said. "But once suspicion is raised, everything can fall apart in seconds. We left before danger of being caught rose up."

Ajairu made an acknowledging grunt. "Uh huh... So why did you come to me?"

"You were the only one we knew outside of the herd, and you were friendly to us." I said.

"Exactly, that's why I'm here. Have you seen a different wolf in the area?" She asked.

"No, we've only seen you." Meg said. "Unless... Henri, have you?"

I shook my head.

"Can I have your help tomorrow, I've been searching for a wolf marked as a traitor and fellow pack member killer and is to be killed. I'm not going to kill him, I just need to talk to him about his 'actions' back home." Ajairu asking for help was odd, why would she ask goats for help?

"If he won't try and eat us, we will." Meg said.

"Don't worry, he'd rather make friends with goats rather than eat them." Ajairu gave a hearty laugh. "Until then, I'm tired from looking all over for him, his scent everywhere in this area. It's like he thought the best way to hide wasn't to lose his scent, but to fully fill everything around him with it."

"Is that one of the scents in here?" I asked.

"Along with the goat scent, his friend? Yes." She replied. "Mei is the goat's name. The wolf is Gabu."

 _His friend is a **goat**?_ I thought to myself. _No, wait. The goat chose a **wolf** as a friend?_ That became the only thing I could think about for the rest of the day, and what kept me up in the night.

 **Hey guess what? Chapter Five is planned out, too! I'm going to really try to get it out soon.**


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